Pesky defense helps Bulldogs take down St. Maries

SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint girls basketball team started the season the way every team dreams of — with a win.

From the opening tip, the Bulldogs used their stingy defense and opportunistic offense to take down visiting St. Maries (0-2) 58-33 Tuesday night at Les Rogers Court.

Sandpoint was able to pullout the victory despite only getting a combined 9 points from its starting backcourt of Maddie Morgan and Dawson Driggs.

But junior Hattie Larson stepped up to lead the team with 12 points while junior Kaylee Banks and freshman Kelsey Cessna added 9 points each.

“I was really pleased with the effort,” Sandpoint head coach Will Love said. “We didn’t talk a lot of X and O’s in the locker room beforehand. We talked a lot about how they want to be described by people that walk into the gym and don’t know about Sandpoint basketball. We talked about how they want to represent the uniform and a lot of the things you saw tonight was exactly what they said before the game.”

In the first quarter of the game, both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm as they traded missed shots and turnovers.

However, the first eight minutes of the game did end with a bang as Banks pulled up from just beyond the midcourt logo and buried a three-pointer to give the Bulldogs a comfortable 17-9 lead after one.

The scoring struggles continued for both squads in the second frame and Sandpoint took a 29-19 advantage into the half. The Bulldogs defense forced 13 turnovers in the first 16 minutes of action.

The Bulldogs came out in the second half looking like a team that could contend for a state berth as they swung the ball around until they found the open shooter and were there for nearly every rebound. And of course their defensive continued to be relentless.

Sandpoint outscored the Lumberjacks 22-6 in the third quarter to help the Bulldogs runaway with the victory.

Love said he was proud of his team for not allowing their early shooting struggles affect them.

“They didn’t let that get to them,” he said. “They were able to weather through the early jitters and keep grinding away.”

Sandpoint forced 22 turnovers in the game and 10 of the 11 players that took the court scored a point.

Love said forcing the Lumberjacks to turn the ball over was at the top of the Bulldogs game plan after St. Maries struggled to hold onto the ball in their opening game against Bonners Ferry on Saturday.

“Our goal tonight was to get after them, make them make decisions, make them dribble and try to force those turnovers,” he said, “and that helps when your not shooting the ball well — getting those extra possessions — because you get extra shots.”

The Bulldogs head to Timberlake 7 p.m. Thursday.

Love is expecting a battle against the Tigers.

“Timberlake’s going to be a lot different ballgame than tonight,” he said. “It’s going to be one of our toughest tests of the year.”

Sandpoint 17 12 22 7 — 58

St Maries 9 10 6 8 — 33

SANDPOINT — Kelsey Cessna 9, Aly Lish 3, Daylee Driggs 2, Maddie Morgan 4, Dawson Driggs 5, Isabel Edwards 2, Brooklen Steiger 5, Bella Phillips 7, Hattie Larson 12, Kaylee Banks 9.

ST. MARIES — Badgett 11, Holder 11, Rimel 2, Christensen 3, Watkins 4, Mitchell 2.